Egypt approached the game with a great spirit despite the loss to Russia on Saturday

Kaliningrad, Russia, June 12, 2010 – Egypt almost upset Russia in Kaliningrad on Saturday as the host side fought out a tight a 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 25-17, 22-25, 15-8) win in front of 4,780 fans in their second 2010 FIVB World League Pool C encounter.

Russia remain unbeaten at the end of the second weekend of the tournament and take their record to 4-0 to lead the Group with 11 points while Egypt dropped to 1-3 and was left in the fourth place with 3 points.

Egyptian Ahmed Abdelhay was the top scorer of the match with 20 points. Dmitriy Muserskiy led the Russians with 16 points.

The Russians gained control at the beginning of the game taking advantage of a number of errors from Egypt before Ahmed Abdalla put in a number of strong serves to help his team win six consecutive points to pick up the set 25-23.

In the second set the hosts were far from their best forcing Russian coach Daniele Bagnoli to look for help from the bench. He made a number of substitutions to eventually find the right combination as his team clinched the set 25-19.

In the third set the Russians finally gained momentum with Maxim Mikhaylov and Dmitriy Muserskiy performing well in attack to end it at 25-17.

The fourth set saw the Egyptians determined to fight and with setter Abdalla Hosaam and Abdelhay Ahmed connecting well they ensured a tie-break set as they won the fourth.

In the final set the hosts stopped Egypt with a solid blocking to claim the victory over the inspired African team.